Pulses on and off, could be a bad control where the control knob is. It could be that the control was attempting to send heat to the burner and when it 'monitors' the electric flow, it has not sensed enough power and automatically calls for more power to the burner. This can cause a safety in the controller to become damaged. Keep in mind that the controls on electric stoves cant really 'measure' the heat thats generated by the burner and they go by the amount of power the element draws. If there is a poor connection at the burner, it could cause the controller to overwork itself. Usually when a controller gets damaged, it will not even power on the burner. This was quite common several years ago when the controller circuit was a bit 'lower tech' design. It is also possible that the new canning burner is defective, so you may want to contact the supplier for that issue. Mine has worked well with my fairly recent frigidaire stove. BTW, my ovens lower element burned out less than one year, and was replaced under warranty. It was caused my a few small drips of food that fell onto the lement and somehow corroded and broke open the heater. It was in pieces and was made of ceramic, with carbon powder inside a thin metallic jacket. Stove top elements are similar and have a thicker metal oustide, but still contain some kind of heat producing composite inside, or it could be nichrome wire. In any event, the element might have an intermittent connection that opens when it heats up a little. Suggest you try the canning element on a friends stove, if they have a similar socket plug type, and see if it does the same thing there.

Here are a possible sources for a controller unit, provided the stove brand and model you have is supported-
http://www.repairclinic.com/0001.as

Here is a link that might be useful: Part Finder

I sent a note to RepairClinic about the heavy duty burner, which I got from them. They said it was maybe not a good connection. But this is the brand new connection that I bought from them and installed. It works absolutely finer than fine on the regular burner, no pulsing. As for the controller, I don't even know if I have much of one. The wires for the burners come out all together from a hole in the back of the stovetop. Who knows what is behind that. I think you may be on to something though, because if the connection is good, like I think it is, then what else could it be? Unfortunately, I am out of my element so to speak, when it comes to the controller. Should I call someone from Sears? My stove is a Kennmore.

The controller are the blocks that are mounted to the knobs that controls the burners. There are shafst that go through to the back of the stove where wires connect the power and wires go to the burner. Before you give up, suggest you try the canning burner on another persons stove (friend or neighbor). The plug in burners are common on most all plug in burners and now that your the expert who can remove a burner and then test your canning burner in someone elses stove. If it pulses on and off there too, its a defective burner with a thermal problem in that it opens (internally) when it heats up some. If the burner works fine in someone elses stove as a test, you may not have a good controller to handle it on your stove- Kenmore is a Whirlpool product. Oddly, there should not be any difference between a standard burner and the canning burner, except for the height and heavier support struts. If it were there, I would connect a volt meter to the burner socket and measure voltage while the burner is pulsing on/off. If I see the voltage on the meter go from zero to high volts and back to zero, its another indication the controller may not be able to handle it.

If you have a totally digital stove, with just pushbuttons for controlling the burners, thats a whole other ball of wax.. My Fridgidaire stove here, has knobs for the burners and a digital control (buttons) for the oven/broiler, clock, and timer.

Question, were you able to figure out if the canning burner was the problem? I am suspecting it was intermittent inside teh burner and would have the same problem on another stove. Hope you get it resolved. If you find it works fine on another stove type, then it has to be related to your burner controls being the problem. If it pulses off an on using someone elses stove, its the burner thats bad, and should be replaced asap. Don't let it go for too long..

I'm going to try the new burner out on my neighbor's stove, I think they have the old style electric. They are getting rarer and rarer as people switch to these flat topped ones. If it is the controller, it's going to be a heck of a job to get to it in the back of the stove. Plus I'm not really mentally up for the job, electronics just isn't my thing. My neighbor is a retired electrician, though, G-d bless him! He's the one who helped me redo the plugs. I didn't quite get it about the little screw things you used to connect the wires. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again Ken. Luckily I'm not doing much cooking or canning these days. Or unluckily! I'd much prefer to do that than all the work things I've been emeshed in here for so long!

Those neat little screw things are called 'wire nuts'. They have a tapered, conical shape inside and once the wires are twisted together (in the correct direction), you screw on the wire nut and that helps to hold the two wires very tightly together. They come in many different sizes (fore different wire sizes)and some are meant for high heat areas, and are made of ceramic. The nice this is they are reuseable. If you say that both of the bigger element burners have the same intermittent issues with the caning burner plugged in, then the controller unit for those larger burners are not designed for anything heavier than the original burner. The heavy duty canning burners draw about another 100-200 watts, which isn't much more when you consider the device that is supposed to control their heating. Most applaince stores around here have many more choices for the open coiled burner type stoves, compared to smooth surface flat tops. I just can visualize one of those flat top stoves being used to heat things fast like that of an exposed red hot element can. Let me know if the nieghbors stove has the same intermittent issue. If not, I bet the burner is defective, unless the neighbor has teh same exact brand and model of stove. Some GE stoves use a different kind of burner connection, and these need a bit more care to remove and replace the burners, as they just don't plug in the same way. Good luck, suggest that you perform the test soon as you can, as you probably have a limited warrenty on the canning element, and if its bad, it needs to get replaced asap.